Benjy Wax
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Benjy Wax is all about connecting with others through creativity and kindness, whether through his job as associate creative director leading content and experiential design at BCDM&E, his residency at the Wicker Park Moishe House, his position as chairman of BUILD Chicago's Associate Board, or his various music projects.
He has been hosting community concerts for over a decade, raising over $10,000 to support BUILD Chicago, a gang violence intervention and youth development nonprofit in the Austin neighborhood.
Additionally, Benjy is a member of BJBE, an involved alum of the Alpha Epsilon Pi International Jewish Fraternity, and an event collaborator with both ChiTribe and the Wicker Park Chabad.
AGE:
29
PRONOUNS:
He, Him, His
PRIMARY GIG:
Associate Creative Director for a global experiential design, events and creative content agency
ON THE SIDE:
I play upright bass in a bluegrass folk jam band, and guitar and drums for a couple rock/punk projects.
SOMETHING MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME:
My guilty pleasure is 80’s hair metal.
WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT IN THE LAST 10 YEARS:
In 2014, I ran against 21 other global candidates and was elected to serve as one of two representatives for 10,000 undergraduate brothers on Alpha Epsilon Pi's international board of directors. The best part: due to the number of candidates, I knew I had to stand out, so I rewrote my speech as a rap and delivered it to an audience of 400 brothers from across the world...to a standing ovation.
YOUR BEST PIECE OF ADVICE:
I think my best piece of advice is one that was instilled in me by my mother. It's not a platitude, truism, or witty aphorism. It's to reach out to people on their birthdays. A call, or a text. It's rooted of course in Rabbi Hillel's summation of the Torah, however, the inverse. Rather than "what is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor" let the imperative be action. DO. Do unto others, as you would have done onto you. And in a more modern sense, it is a very easy way to spread love, let people know they are important, and create (at the least) an annual bedrock to maintain countless relationships over the course of years.
